I have just finished reading a book that I started during my recent trip to South Africa.
It’s titled North West Passage, written by Willy de Roos, a dutch man that one day decided to leave everything and left for a trip around the world on his sailing boat.
It is my dream to do it one day, but I will never do it.
From this book:
“… so the sailing continues. Luckily the moon overwhelms us with its silver lining, in the glimmering reflections that run with the waves, the ice seems black. Yesterday was in flames, tonight it’s dead!”
If only it was true! If only for a few days we could have peace and quiet, forget fear, free ourselves from anguish! To savour the touch of a woman, the kiss of a child, the hug of a mother. Rediscover the tranquillity of Pommeroeul’s forest and the friendship of my good Labrador…
Down there, there is everything I love!
Nevertheless I left it on my will. The fact that everything is relative: the caress, the kiss, the hug. What would it mean if one would be the subject but with no identity?
Joys sink deep and my mother’s hug wouldn’t be the same if from time to time I would give her a reason to be proud of me.
And for this is it necessary to travel across the Atlantic?
Evidently no.
There are a thousand and one ways to self realization, within a thousand and one fields, and it is not even necessary to arrive at the top.
You just need to aim at an ideal self.
You just need TO BE!”

In memory of the recent time in Cape Town, the friends, the laughters and all the bullshit which make up some of the ingredients often necessary to even take some good pictures…
All here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvbVOj_jP0A

Fashion tv followed me on set: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXBAcu9mqSA

Like they say on serious magazines, I receive and gladly publish:
“Dear Settimio,
I landed on your blog and I found it interesting, intelligent and entertaining, I deduce that you are a dick head, and because I am as well I find myself well in tune with you.
With this said I move onto the core: I read on your blog (that I found interesting, intelligent and entertaining) about the advertising that packages Porta Romana in Milano.
Well the problem doesn’t stop here.
If on your return by chance you take the ring-road that goes by Porta Romana (not the one named “dei Navigli”, and not even the more external one named “of 90-91”, but on the one where they rise or rose the spanish walls and the old castles of Milano in the 7 or 8 hundreds), as I was saying if on your return you will drive along it you will realize that the problem regards the whole extension of the ring-road in question (the one that goes past Porta Romana).
I post to you this link of comments on the forum of Vivimilano (which you can also read “Vivimi l’ano” [live my anus] ) http://www.corriere.it/vivimilano/forum/vivimilano/Thread?forumid=16&postid=88430
And to this page of the City of Milan’s website
http://www.comune.milano.it/webcity/comunicati.nsf/weball/F0E5DB58845BC4F6C1257165004982BA
Because I presume you do not have a lot of time to read everything, I’ll sum the story up: the City of Milan gives under contract to the Tmc Pubblicità S.r.l. Group (http://www.tmcpubblicita.com/) the restoration of the Spanish Walls.
Exactly, you read perfectly, the City Council gave the contract of the restoration to a company that specializes in external communications (banners, posters, …). And here, two dick heads like us smell a rat immediately, true? Is it maybe that the restoration business is not really to restore but it is all the publicity in restoring (does that justify it?)
And all the other advertising space that the City sells? Does it get sold to a restoration company? In the end Tcm Pubblicità S.r.l. Will take care of the wall restorations for 32 months (thirty two! They are probably going to use a hand cranked drill and a water colour brush size 000) and will cash in all the ad space sales that will cover the work n progress. But this is the least. If for example you stopped in piazza della repubblica, you’ll see (in the flower-bed at the end of the fly-over bridge coming from corso buenos aires) an enormous double faced ad board with hollywood like lighting. Ok so if you got closer to it, attached to one of the ugly pylons that support it you’ll read a small sign with a short explanation that this advertising space has been temporarily granted by the City of Milan at the contracted company that is currently restoring the spanish walls.
Which is acceptable, but… hold on… WHERE THE FUCK ARE THE SPANISH WALLS IN PIAZZA DELLA REPUBBLICA???
This is big: not even Totò would have thought about this! What am I saying, not even the dearest “Amici Miei”!
The City of Milan gave permission to those sharks to place advertising space even where there are no spanish walls!!!
I close here the chapter, I know that an intelligent person (therefore a dick head, as it’s been accepted) and sensitive like you will remain struck by this TAKING THE PISS and could echo the operation that we are organizing.
You know the movie fight club? You know what I’m talking about.
I hope you’ll want to talk all about this in your blog, which I found interesting, intelligent and entertaining.
Regards
Mil Ano
milanolibera@gmail.com”

Where am i?
Who am i?
What am I doing?
Why?
In which way?
Am I happy?
Am I strong?
Am I good looking?
Am I smart?
Am I kind?
Am I rich?
Am I likeable?
Am I sane?
Am I young?
Am I cultured?
Am I entertaining?
I, settimio benedusi, flying towards italy, who am i?

I am almost towards the end of an almost three week job in cape town, south africa. I’m coming back with 159gb of compressed work, which means roughly 800gb of uncompressed shots. Really a lot of material.
Talking about statistics, it has been an incredible month for my website: for the first time I have reached 8.586 single visitors, which from 78 nations worldwide have visited 89.978 pages…
Thank you!